Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Pigeons on the Pill

From the "Now I've Heard Everything" desk here at BOTB, comes the news that rock pigeons in Hollywood, California will now be ingesting birth control drugs placed in pigeon food that human Angelenos will put out for them. The drug is called OvoControl P and it inhibits egg production in female birds.

First, a serious question:

I know pigeon poop on your brand-new Mercedes ragtop or plopped into your double venti Mocha, half-caf, soy Chai latte is a huge, gnarly bummer, but is anybody thinking about the Cooper's hawks that will eat these semi-sterile pigeons? Will the drug affect them?

Are we getting ourselves into one of those situations where we throw a chemical solution at a small problem and this causes a more serious problem? Spraying for gypsy moths in New England had a catastrophic effect on the nightjar population there.

Even non-chemical solutions can have an unforeseen but devastating impact: The introduction of the house sparrow from Europe was meant to control the infestation of wire worms in the East--now we've got an infestation of house sparrows.

And now, some stupid jokes (which came immediately to mind)

If you ask me, that's taking the 'rock' right out of rock pigeon. Get the AOU on the line....

If this pigeon ain't rockin' don't bother knockin'

This opens up a new product opportunity for the animal drug industry: Pigeon Viagra.

I'll welcome your comments on this post.I'm sure there are some other good pigeons-on-the-pill jokes out there...

People always feel they have the solution to any problem in the form of a magical little pill or chemical creation. I think this is a stupid idea and one that is most certainly going to backfire. When will people learn?

Oops. I just put up a very similar post. I guess we both watched Good Morning America. I'm with you on this one. What else will be dining at these feeders and what about all those predators? This sounds like a bad idea.

While I agree that this scheme is fraught with possible unplanned outcomes and consequences, pigeons in urban areas can be major problems. My son lived near the University of Texas in Austin. His complex had a big pigeon issue. They could not use their patio because it was ALWAYS covered with pigeon poop. Some of the other "solutions" don't seem humane - big nail shaped spikes to keep pigeons from landing or roosting, for example. Grackles are also a huge problem due to the large populations inhabiting trees throughout town.

San Antonio had a unique solution for moving them away from the Riverwalk - they put netting under the bridges where the pigeons were roosting and nesting - it worked pretty well.

Don't get me wrong, I think pigeons are beautiful birds and it is amazing at how well they adapt to urban areas. But I can see how the sheer numbers of them are issues in metropolitan areas. I wish that some of the songbirds could adapt as well to today's changing environments.

About Me

Name: Bill Thompson, III

Location: Southeastern, Ohio, United States

Bill Thompson III is the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest by day. He's also a keen birder, the author of many books, a dad, a field trip leader, an ecotourism consultant, a guitar player, the host of the "This Birding Life" podcast, a regular speaker/performer on the birding festival circuit, a gentleman farmer, and a fungi to be around. His North American life list is somewhere between 667 and 669. His favorite bird is the red-headed woodpecker. His "spark bird" was a snowy owl. He has watched birds in 25 countries and 44 states. But his favorite place to watch birds is on the 80-acre farm he shares with his wife, artist/writer Julie Zickefoose. Some kind person once called Bill "The Pied Piper of Birding" and he has been trying to live up to that moniker ever since.